YAHOO…BACK TO NORMAL…KIND OF

I got to do something on Friday afternoon that I haven’t done in two full years, though the last time I did it this way was in the winter of 2016.  What did I do, you ask!?!
 
I started to teach my Drawing 1 class in Ms. Townsend’s grade 7 class at Range Lake North School.  The last time I was in RLN I was teaching drawing and painting to a grade 8 class.   I completely forgot how FUN teaching art is.   The giggles when I did the blind contour drawing of scissors was great.  It is lovely to take the pressure off because they saw how mine turned out. 
 

​I teach in a very systematic, step by step approach.  Each step of the way comes with a handout that becomes a future reference for the students. With each lesson I am developing skills that build one on top of another, which then allows to student to with greater confidence in their ability to draw.
 
With the advent of computers young people don’t spend much time with a pencil/pen in their hand.   This generally means that though they do print, they don’t do it often enough to not hold the pencil too tightly.  This leads to two problems: 1. Their hand gets tired really quickly, and 2. They draw like they are carving marble.  As a result, I spent a fair amount of time during the first few classes walking around helping them to draw lighter which in turns has them holding their pencil lighter. 
 
The one thing that dawned on me the evening before I went in, is that the masking mandate has been removed.   Like so many, I have been in isolation and haven’t really done large group get togethers.  I am happy to report that everyone in the class wore their mask…including me. 

I am totally excited to do session two in 2 weeks and start their after school program then as well.  So much fun!